The Diego Rivera Anahuacalli Museum is a museum and arts center in Mexico City, located in the San Pablo de Tepetlapa neighborhood of Coyoacán, 10 minutes by car from the Frida Kahlo Museum, as well as from the tourist neighborhood of this district.
The Anahuacalli (from the Nahuatl word, whose meaning is "house surrounded by water"), is a temple of the arts designed by the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.Pellicer, Carlos (1965). Anahuac-calli. Revista Artes de México. Nº 64/65, XII, 1965, p. 9 This museum stands out for its extensive collection of pre-Columbian art, as well as for its Ecological Space that protects endemic flora and fauna. Rivera designed its architecture in order to safeguard his vast collection of pre-Hispanic pieces, while exhibiting the most beautiful works of this set in the museum's main building. Accordingly, a selection of 2,000 artworks, especially well executed and preserved, has been on display since the opening of the Anahuacalli to the public on September 18, 1964.
The extravagant architecture of the building is inspired by Mesoamerican structures, with a unique style of its kind that mixes Mayan and Toltec influences mainly,Coronel, Juan (2007). Diego Rivera Coleccionista. Mexico, 2007. P. 71. although Rivera himself defined it as an amalgamation of Aztec, Mayan and "Traditional Rivera" styles.Guillermo Ortíz, et al. El Anahuacalli de Diego (México: Banco de México, 2008), 136 The Anahuacalli Museum building is erected with carved volcanic stone,Pellicer, Carlos. Anahuac-calli. Revista Artes de México. Número 64/65, Año XII, 1965, pág. 9 extracted from the same place where it stands. According to the words of the Tabasco museographer and poet Carlos Pellicer, who designed the museum's permanent exhibition at the express indication of Rivera himself, the Anahuacalli responds to the following description:
"It is a personal creation using pre-Hispanic elements, mainly from Toltec architecture and some of the Mayan: sloped walls, serpentine pilasters and rhomboid doors. The pyramidal crown accentuates the magnificent character of the building.
The flat ceilings on the ground floor and the upper floors are decorated with original mosaics by the great painter, which are elements that are integrated into the architecture.
Every year, in compliance with the will that Rivera expressed for the Anahuacalli, contemporary art exhibitions are presented on the premises. These proposals are carefully chosen, as they must alternate harmoniously with the museum's architecture, with the pre-Columbian art on display, with the nature that surrounds it, and with the foundational and evolving concept of Diego's Anahuacalli.
History of the Anahuacalli
In June, 1940, Diego Rivera painted the mural Pan American Unity for the "Art in Action" program of the Golden Gate International Exposition(GGIE). In this mural painting, the artist shows a clear interest in extolling the pre-Hispanic cultures. After his return to Mexico in 1941, he is willing to begin the construction of a museum that socialises the pre-Columbian aesthetics, both through its architecture and the collection on display. For these purposes, Diego chooses the land that he acquired in the Pedregal de San Ángel to plan his museum and City of the Arts. In the preparatory drafts, a plaza for art and handcart workshops was included, as well as forums dedicated to the performing arts, permanent exhibition halls and a Mexican art museum with nine venues. Rivera expended a considerable amount of his earnings in what would be one of the most ambitious projects of his life: the Anahuacalli.
The Anahuacalli construction began in 1942, in the suburb and town of San Pablo Tepetlapa. A year later, the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) wrote a letter to the engineer Marte R. Gómez, then Secretary of Agriculture and Development of the government of President Manuel Ávila Camacho, in which she explained her husband's need to build a space that houses his collection. In the words of Frida herself: "(…) after his painting work, what excites him most in his life are his idols (…). His idea was always to build a house for the idols." In said letter, Frida expresses her concern for the sadness of her husband, not having sufficient financial resources to complete the building. As a result, she proposes to the engineer Marte R. Gómez, that the Mexican government supports the continuation of the construction works, with the condition that the muralist donate his collection to Mexico and turn the Anahuacalli into an archaeological museum. Nevertheless, this proposal was not carried out, at least not at the time.
The first museographic design was prepared by Rivera himself under the direction of the anthropologist Alfonso Caso y Andrade (1896–1970).Guillermo Ortíz, et al. El Anahuacalli de Diego (México: Banco de México, 2008). P. 217-245 Both Caso and his collaborators recognized Diego's ability to distinguish, in his collection, the most authentic and important components. Despite the essential collaboration of Caso, Pellicer did not organize the exhibition following historical or anthropological criteria while working under the supervision of Rivera. Differently, Pellicer prioritized the artistic quality of the pieces to organize its display, since this had been Rivera's motivation to assemble the collection in the first place. For this reason, none of the objects are shown linked to a museum card, since Rivera's intention does not respond to an archaeological classification, but to an aesthetic admiration.
When master Rivera died, the Anahuacalli was still in its process of construction; hence his daughter, Ruth Rivera (1927–1969) together with the architects Juan O'Gorman (1905–1982) and Heriberto Pagelson, finished this projectRiveroll, María Fernanda. “Anahuacalli: The Diego Rivera Museum”. Voices of Mexico, 1997. P. 101 with the financial support of Dolores Olmedo. Thus, the construction concluded in 1963Sierra, Diana, Museo Anahuacalli (Toluca: Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey) P. 4, PDF and the museum was inaugurated on September 18, 1964.Coronel, Juan (2007). Diego Rivera Coleccionista. First Edition, México, 2007. P. 72 In memory of its creator, the following quote was chosen for the inscription engraved on the museum foundation stone: "I return to the people what I was able to rescue from the artistic heritage of their ancestors. Diego Rivera".Guillermo Ortíz, et al. El Anahuacalli de Diego (México: Banco de México, 2008), P.39
Anahuacalli's architecture
Main building Due to the essential participation of Juan O'Gorman in the Anahuacalli's construction, it has been wrongly assumed that the building possesses an important functionalist influence. Nonetheless, by the 1940s, when the construction of the Anahuacalli began, O'Gorman had already stopped projecting in accordance with said architectural style.Villareal, Luis. La casa de O’Gorman. La crisis de la modernidad y la vuelta a las raíces primitivas. In journal “Sans Soleil Estudios de la Imagen”. Nº4, 2012, pp. 300–301 Distinctively, the Anahuacalli architecture was as a response to the growing presence of the International Style; O'Gorman realized that his early buildings, influenced by Le Corbusier, were not agreeing with the Mexican landscape and therefore considered them as "invasive species".Keith Eggener (2009). Juan O'Gorman versus the International Style: An Unpublished Submission to the JSAH. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 68, Nº 3, P.302 As a result of the above, O'Gorman sought to return to a Mexican aesthetic for his designs, the one that is characteristic of popular Mexican folk art.Keith Eggener (2009). Juan O'Gorman versus the International Style: An Unpublished Submission to the JSAH. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 68, Nº 3, P.303
The Anahuacalli responds to the ideal of a construction that is integrated with nature, typical of organic architecture, conceptualized by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959). Lloyd Wright's work influenced that of O'Gorman, as well as the design projected by Rivera for the Anahuacalli, designed to achieve a balance between the pre-Hispanic and the modern. The Mexican architect considered Wright's work as the passage from a "servile veneration of European stupidity" to a confidence in the creative capacity of the American continent.Keith Eggener (2009). Juan O'Gorman versus the International Style: An Unpublished Submission to the JSAH. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 68, Nº 3, P.304
The Anahuacalli's design is inspired by a teocalli, which means " gods’ house". It is built with volcanic stone from the eruption of the XitleDolores Olmedo de Olvera (1965). Revista Artes de México. Nº 64/65, XII, 1965, P. 19 volcano; these rocks were extracteded from the same land where the museum was built. Its aesthetic includes symbolic and architectural elements that were originated in Mesoamerica. Accordingly, the main building of Anahuacalli is a manifestation of a spatial architectural perception that is characteristic in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican constructions. The corners of the edifice are dedicated to an element of nature that is represented by original sculptures of their respective deities, according to the Mexica worldview. These divinities are Chicomecóatl (earth), Ehécatl Quetzalcóatl (wind), Tláloc (water), and Huehuetéotl (fire). The building has a total of twenty-three rooms distributed over three levels. In each of the rooms, stand out specific visual motifs of the pre-Hispanic mythology that so fascinated Diego Rivera.
Facade The Anahuacalli is made up entirely of carved rock that originated from the eruption of the Xitle volcano. In the lower part of the main building, a platform of this same material protrudes, configuring a kind of "shelf" where pre-Columbian sculptures are installed.
On that same level, we find the access to the museum that consists of an oval arch in front of the arrangement of elongated windows. These windows are made of amber-colored onyx stone, which looks opaque from the outside and translucent from the inside. These thin windows allow the passage of dim natural light; this is a sensible feature considering that the level where these windows are located represents the Underworld.
On the part that is immediately upstairs the access level, the enormous windows that illuminate the interior of the intermediate floor stand out, among which two snake heads can be seen in the lower part of them. Likewise, the trapezoid-shaped roof is observed, reminiscent of ancient Mesoamerican structures.
Interior of the building
The ground floor of the Anahuacalli stands out for its complexity; it is made up of walls of different thickness depending on their function.Guillermo Ortíz, et al. El Anahuacalli de Diego. México: Banco de México, 2008, P. 131 The walls that are thicker, have a load-bearing structure of reinforced concrete inside. The four vertices were preserved as "chambers", where the contemporary and museographic altars are beautifully placed, alluding to those that served to worship deities in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican contexts. Since this section represents the Underworld, it doesn't have much lighting.
On the first floor that is also the middle floor, the four vertices were kept as "crypts" and there are four exhibition halls. Among these rooms, the two smaller ones face south, and the larger ones are longitudinal, one being clearly more integrated into the central space. On that same level is the space known as Diego Rivera's Studio. This section represents the earthly world, so its rooms are endowed with natural light, unlike the lower floor.